


Started From The Bottom, And Now We’re – Where?

by Serie11



Category: Horizon: Zero Dawn (Video Game)
Genre: Background Aloy/Vala, Bast Lives, Bast becoming not as big of an asshole, Character Development, Character Study, Developing Friendships, F/F, Gen, Internal Monologue, Vala Lives, look I just wanted to think about how Bast's views towards Aloy would have changed if he had lived
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-27
Updated: 2017-11-27
Packaged: 2019-02-07 14:12:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,642
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12842868
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Serie11/pseuds/Serie11
Summary: Bast looks her up and down – he doesn’t know what to call her, now that she’s not an outcast but still different from the other Nora, somehow higher but still foreign. She was supposed to be a brave, but she left – she went into the Mountain, but she doesn’t want to be their Anointed.So he simply inclines his head, not sure how Aloy’s small frown makes him feel.





	Started From The Bottom, And Now We’re – Where?

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you WulfenOne for asking about Bast in my other fic where Vala lives, and thus prompting this

 

Bast is in Mother’s Crown, one moon after the Proving, when he sees her again.

The outcast is wearing Nora clothes, and carries herself with a confidence that he tells himself he doesn’t envy. Something about how she conspicuously doesn’t look at him unsettles him. She obviously knows that he’s there, that he’s watching her – but she ignores him.

It rankles.

Who is she, to ignore him? He is a true Nora, and she –

_was an outcast_

_has been inside the Sacred Mountain_

– she obviously doesn’t know anything about the Nora. She didn’t grow up with them – she doesn’t know every face and every name here. So why is she acting like she is? Taking up Marea’s time, speaking to various braves. Bast grits his teeth as the ache in his leg jars his thoughts.

She’s speaking to the healer that is attending him and the other braves with wounds. Bast hates that he’s here, that he was weak enough to get under a corruptor’s legs. He’s alive – he didn’t even get to die gloriously in battle. Instead he’s stuck, waiting, for his leg to heal enough so that he can stand.

Suddenly, she is standing beside him. “Bast,” she says, voice level even though he can tell that she’s annoyed, and angry, and that she doesn’t like him. Well, the feeling’s mutual. “I’m glad to see that you survived the Proving.”

He wants to spit out that he’s not glad to see that she survived but – she might have impressed him a bit, saving the other braves, pulling him out of the line of fire when the man carrying a device that spat fire came over the line. And she’s been inside the Mountain. He isn’t as sure of what he thinks of her, now.

“Only because you saved me,” he sneers, covering up his lack of insults. “Don’t you want to take credit for that? Hold that over me?”

She purses her mouth. “Your leg wasn’t injured then, though,” she deflects, and Bast’s emotions roil inside him.

“He was injured fighting a corruptor, Seeker,” the healer says. Bast bristles to hear his incompetence so baldly spoken of, but then her words register.

“They made _you_ a _Seeker_?” he says, disbelief warring with anger. That was to be _his_ boon – _his_ right, to leave the Sacred Lands, to track down the cursed Carja that killed his father. He hated that he didn’t have the courage to leave anyway and track him down himself. When he had heard that Nakoa was planning to, he had almost plucked up the courage to ask her to look for his father-killer as well, but – he hadn’t. A coward there, as well.

“Yes, I am a Seeker,” she says calmly, and the words almost drive him mad. Here was his chance, yet again, for justice, for revenge – but he would have to ask _her_ for help. So he keeps his mouth shut. He would get revenge – and he would do it himself, personally. No one fought Bast’s battles for him.

But as a Seeker – he can’t bring himself to be rude to her, not when she now carries a blessing so blatantly. “May All-Mother watch over you,” he mumbles, and turns his head away from her.

She sighs, and stands up. Above his head, she discusses missing dreamwillow with the healer. Bast bites the inside of his cheek and waits until she is gone. Tasting blood, he flexes his leg. Pain flares and he blinks away tears.

Soon. He would go out, and kill the corrupted machines, and prove himself to the Matriarchs. He would ask them to make him a Seeker, so he could finally leave, so he could finally put his mother’s heart at ease.

Soon.

 

* * *

 

The next time he sees her, the Seeker is talking to Vala and the War-Chief. He crouches down low and takes a few steps towards them, trying to pick out their words. In the open field above Red Echoes, it’s impossible to get close enough without any of the three women seeing him. He’s here to get revenge on the killers, Devil take their souls. A tiny part of him hopes that he will find the man who killed his father here, so he will not have to leave Nora lands. Another bit of spinelessness.

The end of this operation was his goal, but the means – it only made him hate her even more. They were to use her Seeker’s blessing to venture into the ruins, something that Bast had always drawn a line at. But now, it was facilitated by her. What made him even angrier was how much time Vala was spending with her – whenever she was in Nora territory, he had heard that it was in Vala’s company. Vala was _his_ rival, the person who he had always measured himself against, and now she had defected to her side, like most of the tribe had. Bast had not expressed his views to anyone, now that _she_ was a Seeker, but they jostled around inside him, making their own noise. Sometimes he felt like he would have to climb a mountain and scream them into the sky, to make himself feel better.

What didn’t help things was how skilled she was. Bast helped take down one of the camps in the ruins, and with her help, the operation went smoothly and swiftly. Killing humans still made him hesitate, and he turned his arrows to the corrupted scrappers that appeared as soon as he possibly could. After the battle, a cry of triumph went up, but Bast didn’t join it. For a second, he met her eyes – she nodded, once. Bast only looked away. When he made himself look back, she had turned, and was trotting away into the ruins. Onto her next battle.

Feeling a bit ashamed, he joins the group of braves and makes his way to the Nora camp at the base of the tallest tower.

 

* * *

 

After the battle in the Ring of Metal, Bast shakes his head at the carnage.

He had fought the bellowback, and his skin still felt like it was on fire. He was dunking his arms in the lake when a hand appeared in his vision. “Here, use this.”

Bast reluctantly looked up to see the machine hunter looking down on him. She raised an eyebrow. “It’ll help with your burns.”

“I don’t need your help,” Bast couldn’t stop himself from saying, but took the plants she offered anyway. He wasn’t stupid enough not to recognise them. When he bit into a root, the numbing sensation spread through his mouth, and rubbing it on his arms made them feel blessedly cool.

“You did good work against that bellowback,” she says. “A lot more Nora would have been hurt if you hadn’t made it focus on you.”

“I’m loud and obnoxious,” Bast says flatly. “Apparently machines like that just as much as humans do.”

For the first time, she looks uncomfortable. “I see. Well, I just wanted to say that it was good work. And to give you the herbs.”

Bast looks at her – actually looks at her. There’s soot smeared across her face, and blood soaked into her tunic, into her hands. “The water here is good for cleansing, both body and spirit,” he says suddenly, because he knows it’s true. “It might not be from inside the Embrace, but I can feel it.”

She looks at him without an expression on her face. Something flickers in her eyes. “I see,” she says again. Bast nods sharply, and splashes some of the water onto his face.

He jerks back as she leaps into the water suddenly, not a dive but in a curled ball. Beside him, her bow and quiver lie where the water can’t touch them, even though he can see the blood on the quiver.

“You’re right,” she says as she surfaces. “The water here _is_ good.”

Bast shrugs one shoulder. He doesn’t know if it’s a peace offering but – it’s something.

 

* * *

 

The next time he sees the Seeker – the brave – the –

He doesn’t know anymore.

The next time he sees _her_ , she’s riding a fucking _strider_ and is holding a _deathbringer gun_ and he’s pretty sure he’s hallucinating at this point, but he follows the War-Chief’s command when she yells _“To Aloy’s side!”_ The thunderjaw is bigger than life, as big as the Mountain – but they must hold, they must defend, and he _will_ defend, this time he will not shy away or avoid the problem. This time he tries to ignore the machine rider as she shoots the thunderjaw from the back of the strider. Bast sends his fire arrows against the demonic, evil thing, and with the entirety of the tribe working on it, Vala calling out positions and formations and tactics, Sona rallying them with each charge, Varl launching himself into the thick of the action, and _her_ acting as a beacon of hope, of promise, of All-Mother’s blessing –

They kill the thunderjaw.

Bast can’t take his eyes away from it. The Nora are cheering and Varl is yelling something inane about the Nora just helping _her_ and there are enemy corpses as well as the thunderjaw, but it’s _immense._ How will they ever get the wreckage of that out of Mother’s Watch, he thinks giddily. He’s alive, somehow. It looks like most of the Nora who had taken the final stand are.

They retreat into the Mountain, and Bast skulks around the sides of the main chamber to avoid her. She’s talking to the Matriarchs, and Bast finds his mother, so glad to see that she is still fine. She smothers him in her arms and cries on his shoulder, and he pats her back awkwardly and doesn’t even try to stop her even if he would normally because well – the thunderjaw outside is still strong in his mind.

He turns when a strong, strange sounding voice echoes through the chamber, and his jaw drops when wall _opens_ and it’s a _door_ and _she_ is walking through it. The door shuts, and the blue light that had spilled from the opening shutting off suddenly. It’s almost like nothing had happened, apart from the dead silence inside the chamber.

Few people move as time passes, most eyes fixed on the door. Bast wonders if they will ever see her again, or if she has been swallowed by the Mountain. The Matriarchs huddle at the bottom of the platform, whispering to themselves. The braves rest, healers moving among them to deliver pain killers and herbal remedies. Bast stays next to his mother. He can see other people he knows, but he hardly thinks that they’ll welcome his presence in the way that his mother does.

The door opens, and she descends down the stairs. Bast scrutinises her, but she looks the same as she did an hour ago when she entered. Unchanged. She should look different, or – something. She just went _inside_ the Sacred Mountain… Who is she?

He’s too far away to hear what she’s saying to the Matriarchs, but he can imagine it. About how she’s better than all of them. How they wronged her, for kicking her out of the tribe. How _he_ wronged her…

“All hail Aloy, Anointed of the Nora!”

Bast joins his voice to the chorus, but it tapers off suddenly. Uneasy with just about everything, he comforts his mother and tries to re-evaluate his world view in peace.

When she comes up to talk to him, Bast doesn’t say anything at first. She smiles a little, but it’s awkward.

“You did good work outside,” Bast said grudgingly. “The Nora could not have succeeded without you.”

Saying it out loud is a step – he doesn’t know where he’s stepping, but he’s started down a trail. She nods.

“Thank you. The Nora helped as well.” She looks over her shoulder. “Everyone helped.”

“Did you get what you needed? From All-Mother?” Bast asks the question not knowing if he’s going to get an answer, but he wants one.

She narrowed her eyes a little, but nodded. “Yes. I think I know what to do now.”

“Then I wish you speed in your travels,” Bast says diplomatically. She smiles a little and this time – it almost looks real.

 

* * *

 

When he sees the Anointed next, she looks powerful and competent. Above them, an unnatural thing of metal towers above the mesa.

He doesn’t know how to feel about her, now. He’s a Seeker, and outside the Sacred Land – because of her. He’s achieved his goal, but it was handed to him, because he expressed a wish to do as she wished, and join her at Meridian.

He hasn’t earned it.

Ever since she had entered the door within All-Mother Mountain, the Nora had sung her praises and acted like she could do no wrong. Sometimes Bast wondered if that was only because they were so determined to forget all the wrongs that they had done to her – he wouldn’t blame her if she had simply turned her backs on them all, even after going inside the Mountain. But she hadn’t – she had just said for all braves that could be spared to make the journey to Meridian. It was so _hot_ here – the sun blazed down constantly, and Bast could see how the Carja worshipped it. Sometimes it felt like there was little else with such overwhelming presence in these lands.

Bast did wonder if All-Mother could see this far, away from the Sacred Lands – could she see, but not act, not protect? They had all been blessed by the High Matriarchs, so they must be protected, but from what? He chewed over the questions uneasily, even as the other Nora were stone faced as they went about preparing for the fight that was coming. Only Vala seemed to enjoy the time here, and Bast had little doubt that she would be back if they won, to make a home here, far from Mother’s Heart. He wondered how much that had to do with _her_.

He snuck a look at her while he tightened another arrow shaft. Vala was working as much as he was, humming under her breath. _She_ had been up to this mesa several times, claiming that the towering contraption of metal was what the metal devil really wanted. It looked demonic enough in Bast’s opinion for him to believe it easily. Most times she had come and gone faster than the wind, but one time she had stayed, to eat with them as the sun had fallen, leaving them covered in darkness. So high up, it was easy to look up at the stars and think that he was among them, floating through their darkness.

She and Vala had spent the night together, and when Bast had gotten up early, ready for another day of waiting, endlessly, on this cursed piece of rock, he had seen them say their goodbyes as she had prepared to leave. He hadn’t been able to look long at their sweetness, as Vala kissed her goodbye. Once, he had thought that he and Vala might become mates, but apparently rivalry didn’t automatically change into something more. Or maybe he had just been deluding himself – after all, she loved to tell him how thick-headed and idiotic he was, and sometimes he even feared she might be right.

He might have to clean up his act.

He sighed to himself just thinking about it, then made a promise – if they won, he would find the man who had killed his father, and then kill him. And then he would spend time away from the Nora, away from anyone who knew him. Go up to the Claim, or Ban-Ur, or somewhere. And he would practise being a better person.

They just had to win this battle first.

She comes over and talks to the braves, and he meets her eyes. She smiles at him, and it’s nearly an authentic expression.

All her titles are getting mixed up in his head. Bast looks her up and down – he doesn’t know what to call her, now that she’s not an outcast but still different from the other Nora, somehow higher but still foreign. She was supposed to be a brave, but she left – she went into the Mountain, but she doesn’t want to be their Anointed.

So he simply inclines his head, not sure how her small frown makes him feel.

“How are things coming along?” she asks, as if she hadn’t just gotten a concise update from the War-Chief.

“We’re crafting arrows and mock-fighting,” Bast says. “I think we could better spend our time by going and hunting in the jungle, but the War-Chief doesn’t want to risk any lives, and doesn’t want to expose anyone to more outlands than she has to. All we’re doing here is waiting.”

She nods. “I’m surprised you came,” she says cautiously. Bast hesitates for a second too long, because her eyes light up in understanding. “But not for me.”

“I will do my duty here,” Bast tells her tightly. As if there was any other option. “But a Seeker’s blessing cannot be taken away. And I have business outside the Sacred Lands.”

“What?” she asks, genuinely curious. Bast looks around.

“I need to find the man who killed my father,” he says. “It wasn’t in the Red Raids – it was a lone attack, committed for no reason that I can name. I need to find out if he’s alive or dead.”

“And what will you do if he’s alive?”

Bast swallows. “I don’t know,” he finally says. “I wish I could say that I would kill him, but any loss of life is something to be grieved. When this is all over, I’ll have time to think about it, if we win. And if we don’t, then I won’t have to worry about it at all.”

“True,” she says. She hesitates for a second before going on. “You know, if you want any help, and if we win, I’ll be happy to ask around for you. I’ve got some friends who might be able to find things out.”

Bast stares at her, not knowing how he feels about this generosity. “Thank you, Anointed,” he stutters. For the first time in their conversation, she looks annoyed.

“Don’t call me that – my name is fine.”

Bast looks at her, tongue tied, as she looks at him expectantly. He hasn’t been able to _think_ her name, let alone –

“Thank you… Aloy,” he says, and the words come out a bit rusty, but he still says them. She smiles at him and he thinks – _oh._ So that’s what a real smile from her looks like. It’s a nice expression – really nice. He smiles back, and wonders if it’s real, too.

 

* * *

 

After everything –

Bast sits on the ledge that overhangs where Varl, Vala, Aloy and the leader of the vanguardsman are standing. Beyond them the city is still burning, but Bast likes to think that the fires are gradually going out. It’s better than it was last night, at any rate.

Out of the twelve braves that came here, only seven are left. It’s a blow that the Nora can’t stand to take. They started the year with over a hundred braves, but will end it with less than thirty. Their tribe has been destroyed by what has happened.

He’s pretty sure his ankle is sprained and he’s still bleeding from where the ravage fired its cannon at him, but otherwise he feels pretty okay. He feels like he spent most of the time facing the deathbringer running and dodging, but he’d gotten in a few hits. Aloy, though – she had been fantastic, shouting weakpoints and orders and her arrows hitting, time after time.

He’s not even ashamed to say that she’s a better hunter than he is because it’s just a fact. She’s excellent, and excels, and he might be a bit jealous, but he’s not going to say he’s better than her anymore.

Aloy hugs the vanguardsman, and then Varl, and then kisses Vala gleefully. Bast feels himself smiling despite it all. They’ve won. It’s a good day.

Aloy comes up to the ledge, and Bast stands up so she can haul herself up. She grins at him, bright and infectious.

“We did it.” She says the words like she can’t believe it’s true.

“The demon is dead?” Bast asks, even though he saw it die – he just needs confirmation. Just needs to know that there won’t be any more deathbringers in his future.

Aloy nods seriously. “It’s gone, for sure. We won, Bast. We won.” She shakes her head. “I’m going to go down to Meridian to help put out the fires – will you come help?”

She puts her hand out, and Bast looks at it. He thinks about many things – how he acted when they first met, how she could forgive something like that. His jealously, unspoken but ever present. His hatred for himself, his cowardice and the fact that he had been given the rank of Seeker like a child is given food. His devil damned ankle that is killing him.

He grasps her wrist in the traditional Nora greeting between braves that respect each other. “Bast,” he introduces himself.

“Call me Aloy,” she says, still smiling. “Now, are we going to go and help, or what?”

He huffs out a laugh. “I bet I can get there before you do.”

Her eyebrows go up, and he can tell that she’s surprised, but: “Not if I have anything to say about it.”

She turns to jog towards the path, and Bast shakes his head and thinks: time to earn this boon. Time to be worthy of Aloy’s time. Time to learn how to be a better person.

He follows her. 


End file.
